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are to make tones, and several quick motions m a cadence, seveialquavers, semiquavers, &-c. corresponding to a crochet or minim,as when a semibreve is divided into two minims, four crot-chets, &c.

Diminution, in rhetoric, the exaggerating of what you have to•ay by an expression that seems to diminish it.

D1MINLT1YE, in grammar, a word formed from some other,to soften or diminish the force of it, or lo signify a thing is lttle mits kind. Thus cellule is a diminutive of cell, globule ot globe,hillock of hill.

DLVIISSORY LETTERS, Liter.® Dimissori.*, in the ca-non law, a letter given by a bishop to a candidate for holv ordi rs,having a title in his diocese, directed to some other bishop, andgiving leave for the bearer to be ordained by him.

Di.MtKR IT At, [from Si» aiid^sirrea;, to divide,] a name givento the Apollinarists, who at iirst held, that Christ only assumed ahuman body, without taking a reasonable soul; but being at lengthconvinced bv texts of scripture, they allowed, that he did assumea soul, but w ithout understanding ; the Word supplying that facul-ty. From this wav of separating the understanding from the soul,thev were denominated Dimocrites, or Separatees.

DlMORCARPUS, in botany, a genus of the octandria mono-gynia class and order. Calyx live-cleft; corolla live-petaled;berries two, one-seeded, large. One species, found in China .

D1MOHPHA, in botany, a genus of the diadelphia decandriaclass and order. Petals one large convolute, in place of the keel;standard and wings none. Three species, natives of the woods otGuiana.

DIMOTUC, a town of European Turkey, in Romania , 12miles S. \V. of Adrianople.

DIN ABURG, a town of Russia, in the government of Polotsk ,on the Dwina; 80 miles N. W. of Polotsk .

DINAG EPOUIt, a town of IIindostan,in the country of Bengal,85 miles N. of Moorshedabad.

DIN'AN, or DINANT, a strong town of France , in thedepartment of the North Coast, 20 miles S. of St. Main.

Dixant, a town of Germany, in Westphalia , live miles N. ofCharlemont.

DINARCHY, [smoyia, Gr.] a government by two. Suchwas the kingdom of Laconia, which had two royal families forseveral centuries, both descended from Hercules, each of whichafforded a king to the state, both reigning at one time ; amode of government not paralleled in the history of any other coun-try in the world.

DINASMAWDDWY, DINASMONDY, or DINAS-MOUTFIY, a town of N. Wales , in Merionethshire, IS miles S.of Bala. Lon. 3. 40. W. Lat. 32. 37. N.

DINCKELSPIL, a town of Germany , inSuabia, 37 miles S. \V.of Nuremberg.

DINDIGUL, acity of India, in the Mysore country, 51 milesS. W. ofTrichinopoly.

DINGLE, a sea-port of Ireland, in Kerry, Munster , 21 miles\V. S. W. of Tralee .

DINGWALL, an ancient and flourishing royal borough ofScotland , in the county of Ross, 18 miles W. of Cromarty.

DINKELSBUHL , or.Dl’N KELSPU11L, an imperial townof Germany, in Suabia , 16 miles S. W. of Anspach.

DINOCRATES, a celebrated architect of Macedonia, whorebuilt the temple of Ephesus, when burnt by Erostratus , withmuch more magnificence than before. Vitruvius informs us, thatDinocrstes proposed to Alexander the Great , to convert mountAthos into the figure of a man, whose left hand should contain awalled city, and all the rivers of the mount flow into his righthand, and from thence into the sea! He also conceived a schemefor building the dome of the temple of Arsinoe at Alexandria, ofloadstone; that should by its attraction uphold her iron image inthe centre, suspended in the air! Projects which at least sheweda vast extent ot imagination.

DIOCESE , [fiajand wx-io-ir,] the circuit of every bishop's juris-diction; for this"realm has two divisions, one into shires or coun-ties,- in respect of temporal policy; another into dioceses, in re-spect of jurisdiction ecclesiastical.

Diocese is also used in ancient authors, for the province of ametropolitan. Diocesis was originally a civil government , com-posed of divers provinces. The first division of the empire into

dioceses is ordinarily ascribed to Constantine ; who distributed thewhole Roman state into four: viz. those of Italy, Illyria , the East,and Africa. And yet, long before Constantine, Strabo , wlu>wrote under Tiberius , takes notice, (lib. xiii. p. 432,) that theRomans had divided Asia into dioceses; and complains of theconfusion such a division occasioned in geography, Asia being nolonger divided by. people, but by dioceses, each whereof had atribunal, or court, where justice wa» administered.

DIOCLE1A, [moxXi!«s,] in antiquity,-a solemnity kept in thespring at Megavu, in memory of the Athenian hero, who died inthe defence of the youth h loved.

DIOCLESIANUS, Caius Valerius Jovius, a celebratedRoman emperor born of an obscure family in Dalmatia , in A.D.245.He was first a common soldier, and by merit and success he gra-dually rose to the office of a general; and at the death of Nume-rian, in 284, he was invested with imperial power. In this highstation lie rewarded the fidelity of Maximian , who had shared withhim all the subordinate ofuces in Ibe army, l>y making him hiscolleague on the throne. lie created two subordinate emperorsConstantins and Galerius , by the tit!" of Ca ars, whilst he claimedfor himself and his colleague rile superior tide of Augustus . Dio-clesian has been celebrated for his military virtues; and though hewas not polished by education, yet he was a patron of learning.He was bold, resolute, and active, and well acquainted withthe arts, which made him respectable even in the eyes of his ene-mies. But his cruelty to the Christians has been deservedlybranded with infamy. After he had reigned 22 years in thogreatest prosperity, he publicly abdicated the crown at Nicomediain 305, and retired to a private station at Salona. Maximian hiscolleague followed his example, but not from choice; and whenhe some time after endeavoured to rouse the ambition of Dioclc-sian, and persuade him to re-assume the imperial put-pie, he re-ceived for answer, that Dioclesian took now more delight in culti-vating his little garden, than he formerly enjoyed in a palace, whenhis power was extended over all the earth. lie lived nine yearsafter his abdication in the greatest security and enjoyment at Sa-lona, and died in 314, in the 08th year of his age. Dioclesian bthe first on record, except Lycurgus and Sylla, who voluntarilyresigned his power. His bloody persecution of the Christians forms a chronological era, called the era of Dioclesian , or of theMartyrs. It was long used in theological writings, and is still fol-lowed by the Copts and Abyssinians. It commenced August 29,A. D. 284.

DIOCCESIS, [AiomtiTi;, Gr.] See Diocese.

DIODI A, a genus of the monogynia order, and tetrandria classof plants; natural order, Stellata’. Corolla monopetalous, funnel-shaped; capsule two-celled, two-seeded. Six species, chiefly na-tives of the West-Indies .

DIODON, a genus of fishes of tin* order cartilaginei. Jawsbony and undivided; aperture of the gills linear; body coveredon all sides with long moveable spines; no ventral fins. Thereare three species,

I). Hystrix, or the Sea Porcupine, grows to nearly two feetin length, and inhabits the Indian and American seas. In someof the West India islands it is used for food, but, in general, is lit-tle valued. Its resemblance to the porcupine and hedge-hog, andlikewise to the sea-urchins, is considerable, both in appearanceand manners. It possesses the faculty of raising and depressing itsspines at pleasure, andlikewise of flattening its body, t or extend-ing it to a globular form, and is often fished for with a rod andline, merely for the sake of the curious, spectacle it exhibits bythese violent alternations. See Plate EV.

I). Oblongus, the Oblong Sun-fish, grows to a great bulk ;one examined by Sylviamis was above 100 pounds in weight; andDr. Borhwe mentions another taken at Plymouth in 1734, thatweighed 500. In form it resembles a bream or some deep tisli cutoil in the middle. The mouth is very small, and contains in eachjaw two broad teeth, with sharp edges. The eyes are little ; be-fore each is a small semilunar aperture; t lie pectoral fins are verysmall, and placed behind them. 'Hie colour of the hack is dusky,and dappled; the belly silvery: between tbe eyes and the pecto-ral tins, are certain streaks pointing downwards. Tbe skin is freefrom scales. When boiled, it has been observed to turn into aglutinous jelly, resembling boiled starch when cold, and servedthe purposes of glue on being tried on paper and leather. The

meat